Balancing Mechanism receives first supply

A battery storage site based in Derbyshire is the first to plug into the UK’s balancing mechanism.

The National Grid’s Balancing Mechanism (BM) has received its first supply from a 10MW battery storage site. The successful transmission of energy into the BM is expected to provide a major boost to the UK’s renewable and battery storage industry.

The storage site is situated at Breach farm in Derbyshire which was developed by Anesco and supplied the BM for the first time on the 20th of August. The connection was achieved using “virtual power plant” technology and was managed by Limejump. A virtual power plant is a cloud-based technology which integrates a number of generation sources to form a combined power supply which can then be controlled remotely from a central hub.

Steve Shine, executive chairman of Anesco said: “It’s a major step forward for the industry, with the BM market offering frequent instances of profitable spreads for batteries to take advantage of. In addition, it removes much of the risk that suppliers face from uncertain system prices."

The Reading-based renewable energy company was the first to install a commercial-scale battery charged by solar panels back in 2016.

Anesco have now committed to delivering the UK’s largest energy storage portfolio by the end of 2018, aiming to connect 185MW to the grid. This storage network is expected to play a major role in balancing the UK energy system, with an almost instantaneous response to supply/ demand requests.

The UK battery storage sector is currently showing substantial growth with the UK expected to save £8bn by 2030 due to the large number of projects proposed this year.